Citadel of Faith

Shoghi Effendi

Such a consummation will, in its turn, pave the way for the
recognition of that Faith as an independent religion established on a
basis of absolute equality with its sister religions, enjoying the unqualified
protection of the civil authorities for its followers and its
institutions, and fully empowered, in all matters related to personal
status, to apply without any reservations the laws and ordinances
ordained in the Most Holy Book.

That the members of the American Bahá’í Community—the outstanding
protagonists of the Cause of God; the stout-hearted defenders
of its integrity, its claims and its rights, the champion-builders of its
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Administrative Order; the standard-bearers of its crusading hosts; the
torchbearers of its embryonic civilization; the chief succorers of the
down-trodden, the needy and the fettered among its followers—that
the members of such a community, may, whilst discharging, fully and
unflinchingly, their specific tasks in accordance with the provisions of
the Ten-Year Plan, seize the present God-sent opportunity, and hasten,
through a proper discharge of this supplementary task, the consummation
of such ardent hopes for so signal a victory, is a prayer constantly
in my heart, and a wish which I treasure above all others.